Matera Artist Residency

29 Novembre 2018

The Matera Artist Residency is a collaboration between Masseria Fontana di Vite and the gallerist Carl Kostyal.
The residency was founded to provide an inviting space and home for visual artists from around the world to create art while experiencing Italian life. The residency offers these artists the crucial time and place to retreat from the routines and pressures of everyday life within a unique geographical and cultural context with the added flair of the southern Italian hospitality.
Masseria Fontana di Vite is a luxury boutique hotel and resort located on a country estate close to the ancient city of Matera in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. The original Masseria structure, which is a fortified farmhouse typical of the area, dates back to the 18 th century. An expansion in 1816 by its original owners, the aristocratic Gattini family, saw the construction of a noble house residency, a warehouse with barrel vaults used to store wheat, and several rooms around the courtyard used as wine cellars as well as small storage depots. More buildings were added under the subsequent ownership of Giovanni Lorusso including a chapel, an outdoor oven, two large warehouses to store tobacco leaves, and “Lamielle”, which is a farmhouse characterized by small barrel vaults.
The artist’s studio is a spacious warehouse originally used to dry tobacco and stands as a truly incredible building. The many historic structures on the estate serve as an inspiration for the artists. In fact, the chapel was used by the first artist-in-residence Austin Lee in July 2018 for a ceiling fresco titled “I fiori del cielo”.
This contemporary site-specific work is a tribute to the spiritual architecture of the church and stunning nature surrounding the Masseria.
The artist residency aims to create a sculpture park surrounding the property and to become a destination site for the international art world in the hidden gem of Matera, the third most ancient city in the world, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site as well as the European Capital of Culture in 2019.
In 2018, the summer residency hosted Austin Lee and Gina Beavers during the month of July, while the autumn residency hosted Violet Dennison in September. The 2019 program will host two month-long sessions, one in spring and the other one in summer, with each hosting a minimum of two artists per session.